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White roses have always stood out prominently from other varieties of roses. They represent light, beauty and innocence. There are very few truly worthwhile varieties of white roses. This is due to the fact that, unlike their red counterparts, they are very difficult to breed. Even famous all over the world english roses David Austin could not boast of a variety of white varieties. But that all changed in 2007, when David managed to bring out the pearl of all his collections - the white rose Claire Austin, which he named after his daughter.
Description of the variety
David Austin is a world famous English farmer who turned the flower world upside down. With his light hand, the world saw new varieties of roseswhich became known as "English roses".
Crossing old varieties of English roses with hybrid tea roses, he has developed a large number of new varieties that are incredibly popular all over the world. He gave them different names, which fully reflected their character and beauty. But only one variety was honored to bear the name of the dearest person in his life - his daughter Claire.
Claire Austin is rightfully one of the most beautiful varieties of white roses. It belongs to the scrub roses, which are distinguished by the large size of the bushes and abundant flowering.
The rose bush of this variety is distinguished by its spreading. Claire Austin is most commonly grown as a bush. Moreover, its height will be 1.5 meters, and its diameter will be about 2 meters. But it can also be grown as a climbing tree. In this case, due to the support, the bush can grow up to 3 meters in height. The photo below shows how beautiful Claire Austin looks when grown with support on an arch.
As you can see in the photo, Claire Austin's bush is very leafy. But due to the slightly drooping arched shoots, it retains its elegant shape. The leaves of this English rose variety are bright green in color with a slight glossy sheen.
During flowering, bright green bushes are diluted with large flowers of incredible beauty. On each stem of this wonderful rose, from 1 to 3 large flowers can form at the same time. At the beginning of its blooming, Claire Austin's flower looks like a regular rose with a bowl-shaped shape and tightly fitting petals. But when fully opened, the flower exposes numerous terry petals and becomes more voluminous. Claire Austin's flower color changes depending on the flowering period:
- at the very beginning of flowering, the roses have a soft lemon color;
- in the middle of flowering, they fade to a snow-white color;
- at the end of flowering, Claire Austin's roses become beige-pinkish.
The photo below shows the color of flowers from the beginning of flowering to its end.
Like all of David Austin's creations, Claire Austin has a fairly strong and persistent scent. It harmoniously combines the rich aroma of tea rose and notes of myrrh, vanilla and heliotrope.
Unfortunately, these flowers do not have very good rain resistance. During precipitation, they do not open, so they have to be helped manually. But this must be done with extreme caution, trying not to damage the delicate petals.
This disadvantage can be offset by Claire Austin's re-blooming, which allows flowers to be admired throughout the summer.
In addition, this variety has good immune characteristics. To get sick with such common diseases as powdery mildew or black spot, Claire Austin's rose can only in unfavorable years from the point of view of weather. This quality allows you to successfully grow a rose of this variety in the middle lane.
Planting and grooming recommendations
Despite the fact that this rose belongs to unpretentious varieties, in the first year after planting it will need special attention. At this time, it will only settle down in a new place, therefore, without proper care, it can get sick and die. To prevent this from happening, we will tell you about the rules for planting it and about further caring for it.
Landing
Her landing starts with choosing a suitable location. Like other David Austin varieties, this variety tolerates partial shade. But its exceptional beauty can only be seen when disembarking in a sunny place.
Claire Austin is very unpretentious. Of course, ideally it is worth providing it with light soil. But if this is not possible, then this rose will adapt to the soil that will be.
Claire Austin is best planted in the fall, but no later than October, when the first frosts begin. Autumn planting is good because during the winter the bushes will build up a good root system, and not start up new shoots. It is also possible to plant in the spring months, but for this the soil for the rose will need to be dug up and fertilized with humus in the fall.
For a purchased seedling, a pit with dimensions of 50 * 50 * 50 cm will be enough.In order for the seedling to root better, before planting it must be soaked for a day in any root formation stimulator, for example, in Kornevin or Heterooxin. The main condition for the successful planting of a variety is the deepening of its grafting. It should be submerged 10 cm in the ground. After the seedling is correctly placed in the prepared hole, you can fill in its roots. For this, soil from the pit is used with the addition of compost or rotted manure. At the end of planting, the soil should be lightly tamped and watered.
Watering
It is necessary to water the English rose Claire Austin only as the topsoil dries up. As a rule, under normal weather conditions, the watering frequency will not exceed once every 5 days. Watering should be done in the evening with settled or rainwater. In hot weather, watering should be increased using water heated in the sun. If Claire Austin is grown as a bush, then 5 liters will be enough for one plant. If this rose is grown as a climbing rose, then more water will have to be spent on irrigation - up to 15 liters per bush.
Rose watering is done all summer, until the end of August. If the summer is rainy, then it is worth stopping watering earlier than August - in the month of July.
Pruning
Pruning your bushes is an important step in caring for them. Moreover, it should start in the first year after disembarkation. In the spring, not earlier than April, when the buds have already woken up and swelled, and the first shoots have grown by 5 cm, the bush must be thinned out, leaving only 3 - 4 strongest shoots. Any broken, old or small shoots should be removed without regret. They will only draw forces from the plant, restraining its growth and flowering. Once every 5 years, it is necessary to cut out all the stiff shoots, allowing the young shoots to germinate.
In addition, all sections are made 5 mm above the kidney and only at a 45 degree angle.
In order to provide the Claire Austin variety with abundant and lush blooming with large roses, the shoots must be shortened by half their length. If you shorten the shoots by a third of the length, then the bush will literally sprinkle with buds. After wilting, the flowers must be removed. Otherwise, re-flowering may either not come or come, but not soon.
Top dressing
You need to fertilize the Claire Austin variety at least three times over the summer. Fertilizers for dressing are used depending on the needs of the bushes:
- before flowering, Claire Austin can be fed with nitrogen-containing fertilizers;
- before blooming rose buds, complex trace elements and organics are required;
- before harvesting for the winter, the bushes should be fed with potassium and phosphorus.
If humus or organic matter was added to the planting hole when planting a rose, then feeding should be started only from the second year of growth.
Wintering
Claire Austin's English rose hiding place is an important part of caring for her. In our climate, without this, the rose will simply freeze over the winter. Therefore, it is very important to pay increased attention to this aspect of care.
It is worth starting to prepare roses for wintering in early October. To do this, the bushes are first huddled, and then tilted as close to the ground as possible. After the onset of the first frost, absolutely all leaves and buds must be removed from the shoots. This is done to prevent the development of fungal diseases during the wintering of the bushes. After that, the shoots are covered with spruce branches and non-woven material.
In this form, the bushes hibernate until spring. Before hiding roses for the winter, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the video:
To date, Claire Austin is the best white rose among all bred English varieties. Her planting and care will not require special knowledge and efforts from the gardener.
